The Maserati MC20 Folgore will arrive in 2024 as the flag-bearer for a brigade of electric sports cars, pairing traditional mid-engined styling and handling with whip-crack acceleration and outstanding usability.
In a rare exclusive interview with Autocar, Maserati CEO Davide Grasso outlined his expectations and hopes for the MC20 Folgore, which is one of six EVs Maserati will launch by 2026 as it gears up to phase out combustion engines.
Above all, revealed Grasso, Maserati aims to substantially boost performance over the existing V6-engined MC20 without losing its character or sense of engagement.
“The type of acceleration you get from an electric car is different from an ICE [car],” said Grasso. “But absolutely from a handling standpoint and from a speed standpoint, the electric MC20 will be, to our knowledge, the first super-sports car that’s fully electric.”
Grasso refused to be drawn on more specific performance and technical details (“the programme is still going full steam; it’s a bit too early for me to start sharing”). But he suggested the difference in character between the V6 and EV versions of the new Granturismo will be a good indicator of how the MC20 variants will be told apart:
“Once we’ve launched the Granturismo in Folgore and ICE forms, I think you’re going to have a sense – driving both those cars – of how that could be translated in the MC20 Folgore versus [MC20] ICE.”
The MC20 will be the third Maserati made available as an EV, following the Granturismo and Grecale SUV in 2023. The next-generation Quattroporte saloon and Levante SUV are set to be electric-only from launch (see overleaf).
The MC20 was conceived from the off to accommodate both ICE and EV hardware, so the Folgore will be structurally very similar to the existing car, rather than sit on an adapted version of the platform used by Maserati’s larger EVs (itself derived from sibling firm Alfa Romeo’s Giorgio platform).
Grasso said: “That uniquely Maserati approach of using a platform for both versions and developing a platform that allows the maximum type of performance and handling and the characteristic and unique handling that Maserati can provide has been a characteristic of the programme strategically.”
The most potent ICE version of the Granturismo extracts 550bhp from its V6 (71bhp less than the same-engined MC20), while the EV boosts output to a substantial 745bhp. If the MC20 Folgore mirrors that output, it would represent a substantial rise that, together with a huge 997lb ft of torque, should yield a drastic improvement in off-the-mark acceleration.
